Flixbus Discussion

markymark2000 said:

Yes, removed as of the timetable changes last week.

The trips were ran by Whippets on the 004 route and Whippets trips on the 004 were removed.

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cd harrison said:

Thank you. Wished there was a brief notice of the changes on their homepage. Thought it had been hacked or something.

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cd harrison said:

Thank you. Wished there was a brief notice of the changes on their homepage. Thought it had been hacked or something.

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Deerfold said:

There's frequent changes but no notifications - places just appear and disappear from the selector - it's similar with Megabus and, to a lesser extent, with National Express.

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markymark2000 said:

Only times timetable changes are posted is positive changes.

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Smethwickian said:

Has anyone ever seen National Express advertise specific service reintroductions or improvements in local and regional media? For example when service 460 started serving Rugby a few months back, did anyone in the Rugby area see local publicity of any kind? When the 788 was introduced from Peterborough to Heathrow a few weeks ago, would anyone in that fine Fenland city have the foggiest idea it had begun? Genuinely curious to know.

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Belle Vue expands partnership with FlixBus - routeone

Belle Vue is to offer additional services in conjunction with FlixBus, with the Stockport-based firm awaiting delivery of three new Yutongs in spring 2024.

www.route-one.net

Belle Vue is to offer additional services in conjunction with FlixBus, with the Stockport-based firm awaiting delivery of three new Yutong GT12s in spring 2024.

The operator, which began its partnership with FlixBus in April, is to operate new routes between Manchester and York, Birmingham and Leicester.

An existing service between Manchester, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne is already run by Belle Vue on behalf of FlixBus.

Managing Director of Belle Vue, Phil Hitchen, says: “The strength of our partnership with the FlixBus team is unmatched, and we have been keen to expand our relationship with them based on the excellent results we’ve seen so far.

“There is a revolution in express coach services happening with FlixBus here in the UK, and it’s exciting to be part of the forward-thinking brand shaping the future of the industry.”

This follows news of strong growth for the operator, having taken on three new Neoplan Tourliners in a “record year”.

Andreas Schorling, Managing Director of FlixBus UK, adds: “Belle Vue has delivered exceptional quality on our network, alongside an entrepreneurial and ambitious approach from Phil and the entire team. We are delighted to expand our partnership and are looking forward to working together for decades to come.

“FlixBus sets out to build partnerships that last and we are delighted that as a key operator, Belle Vue is keen to expand with us, and drive forward our mission to become the largest express coach network in the UK.”

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Volvodart said:

Flixbus are back using Aberdeen bus station from Monday 4 December following alterations to the stances there. Some departure times have changed slightly.

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Deerfold said:

Have they come to an amicable agreement with Stagecoach?

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Stan Drews said:

They’ve certainly come to an agreement. Don’t know amicable it might be!

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• Stance 1 and 2 - Service 727 (previously using Stance 14 for outbound / inbound)
• Stance 10 - Peterhead services; 61, X60, X63 (previously using Stance 11 for outbound / inbound) and Ellon service X65
• Stance 11 - Fraserburgh Services; 68, X67 X68 (previously using Stance 12 for outbound / inbound)
• Stance A and B (previously Jet Stance) - Citylink, Megabus, Parks and Flixbus services

kijeta said:

Did anyone else that bustimes.org has completely removed any mention of flixbus in newport? I don't mean the live tracking, but rather, even the timetables.

Newport, at Queensway Q1 – Bus Times

940 - Swansea- Cardiff- Newport- Heathrow- Gatwick

FlixBus

bustimes.org

046 - Swansea - London

FlixBus

bustimes.org

042 - London - Cardiff

FlixBus

bustimes.org

Could anyone speculate why?

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cd harrison said:

Edit. Just rechecked. Northampton still there but no direct route from Nottingham to Northampton and vice versa

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markymark2000 said:

Northampton has been added to the N31 service so Glasgow, Carlisle, Penrith, Leeds, Sheffield and London are the direct destinations and the service only runs 4-5 times per week currently.

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New year means new growth for FlixBus McGill's partnership

FlixBus UK MD Andreas Schörling and McGill’s Bus Group CEO Ralph Roberts share plans for further expansion of FlixBus in Scotland

www.route-one.net

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New year means new growth for FlixBus McGill’s partnership​

FlixBus UK Managing Director Andreas Schörling and McGill’s Bus Group CEO Ralph Roberts share plans for further expansion of FlixBus in Scotland​

Alex CrawfordPublished February 19, 2024


On 7 February, routeone was joined by Andreas Schörling, Managing Director UK of FlixBus, and McGill’s Bus Group CEO Ralph Roberts, to discuss further expansion of the McGill’s-Flixbus partnership and the Scottish scheduled coach network.
It comes almost a year after Flixbus and McGill’s last expanded their partnership in Scotland as part of broader plans to create the largest intercity coach network in the UK. That expansion added 25 coaches and new routes to the network, and Ralph and Andreas at the time cited strong partnership working and high-quality services as reasons for the success.
The new expansion seeks to build on that, and will see more branded vehicles, 65 new jobs in driving, shunting, maintenance and other duties, higher frequency on the Edinburgh-Glasgow route and a new destination to be announced in due course.

A happy relationship​

FlixBus extended its scheduled coach network into Scotland in July 2021 and announced its entrance to the Scottish internal market in August 2022. This latest expansion brings the total engagement that McGill’s has on the FlixBus network to well over 40 vehicles. A new supplier will be officially announced for the new batch, marking an end to the previous partnership with Volvo. Uplift will begin as typically done in spring, and demand is expected to increase for summer.
“Something close to heart for me that I want to take the opportunity to share is that we are very proud and happy to be expanding this partnership with McGill’s,” says Andreas. “We consider it a very valued partner on our network.
“There are several elements driving that. We have a shared set of values; we see the world in a similar way. We have a foundational belief that public transportation is important for society. We want to drive accessibility to affordable travel, and something that we are aligning well is that focus on quality and excellent service that passengers deserve.”
Both companies have a strong growth mindset. FlixBus as a group has grown significantly over the 10 years that it has existed and has grown rapidly since it entered the UK market, and according to Andreas, McGill’s growth of its own core business has, at the same time, been nothing short of remarkable.

Time and consistency​

The partnership has been recognised both with external awards for its services and internally for its drivers. Most recently, McGill’s driver Kary-Ann McGregor from Dundee won the 2023 FlixBus UK Driver of the Year award, making that the second year running — it was Glenn Taylor, operating a McGill’s Glasgow to Aberdeen route, who won the inaugural award in 2022. Beside that, Andreas says FlixBus was “in awe” of McGill’s response to extreme weather conditions last year.
“The growth that we have achieved together with McGill’s is remarkable,” Andreas continues. “We started with two vehicles at the very beginning, and it was a conscious choice to launch together and see how the partnership unfolds. We quickly grew to seven vehicles, and by 2023 we were running 25. Now we’re going well above 40. That’s impressive, and what has stood out from our perspective is how well this has been absorbed from the McGill’s side – this is significant engagement, a large-scale operation, but throughout the expansion, and as we reached peak capacity, [McGill’s] has maintained strong quality, high focus and punctuality, good customer service, and the net promoter scores that we are measuring are consistently high.”
From Ralph’s perspective, McGill’s sees the partnership as being focused on people. That is combined with a unique marketing approach. “Looking at it from a marketing level, it’s great to see this from a UK perspective. What the UK needs is disruption within public transport in order to improve the lot, and FlixBus coming along has disrupted the intercity coach travel marketplace.
“People need value for money and we’re on the cusp of a renaissance. We’re seeing the shoots of it in coach travel, and especially interurban coach travel. I believe that there’s space in the marketplace to grow it, and that’s what’s exciting about it.
“It takes trust between two organisations to fulfil a dream and belief in that mission. That’s what we both have: Belief and trust in each organisation that we’re going to do what we need to do.”
Trust comes from investment of consistency and time, according to Andreas. “We’ve now been working together for three years, been through various situations seeing how we react in those, and the trust is coming through there,” he says. “Equally, it takes time to build a customer base, brand awareness, and all of these are things we’ve been building up over time. We’re seeing strong results and that’s why we have trust in the market to continue to grow at the pace that we are.”

Positive year ahead​

All this gives FlixBus further confidence in its model and allows it to reiterate confidently the mission to build the largest coach network in the UK. Today it serves more than 60 destinations across the network, and more are promised throughout 2024.
“We are very focused on building a high-quality network and, as such, we are prioritising work with top operators across the industry. McGill’s is a clear sign of that. We also have operators such as Belle Vue and Stanley Travel, and Newport Transport doubling its engagement as well. The focus is on building that network while we scale it to the mission that we have.”

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higher frequency on the Edinburgh-Glasgow route

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megabusser said:

Very interesting - I think the current Edinburgh-Glasgow journeys are all part of longer routes rather than them explicitly competing with CityLink on the 900. This might imply a change to that?

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Flix announces long-distance electric coach pilot - Bus & Coach Buyer

Travel tech company Flix has announced the launch of its pilot for the first electric long-distance coach service in England and Wales. From 21 March until June 2024, travellers will be able to try out the electric vehicle on a FlixBus route between London, Bristol and Newport (South Wales). It...

www.busandcoachbuyer.com

Travel tech company Flix has announced the launch of its pilot for the first electric long-distance coach service in England and Wales.

From 21 March until June 2024, travellers will be able to try out the electric vehicle on a FlixBus route between London, Bristol and Newport (South Wales). It will be trialled for three months with operator partner Newport Transport. The vehicle to be used on the service is from the operator’s fleet. It already owns four Yutong TCe12 electric coaches and operates 60% of its local bus services with zero-emission vehicles.

The 46-seat Yutong TCe12 used on the service includes a toilet, USB charging points and free wi-fi for all customers as standard on FlixBus services, as well as being PSVAR compliant.

The vehicle is estimated to save 352kg of carbon emissions per day driven on this route compared to the average diesel-fuelled coach. This equals a reduction of more than 21 tonnes of CO2 over the course of the pilot.

Andreas Schorling, Managing Director of FlixBus UK, said: “This is a huge step forward for the UK coach sector, transforming the already low-carbon mode of transport to zero-emission at the tailpipe through innovative technology.

“As the first electric long-distance coach service in England and Wales, we’re sending a powerful message about our continued commitment to bring even more sustainable travel options for the public, and our determination to drive forward the change needed to reduce the impact on the climate.

“Coach travel is already a fantastic option because it’s comfortable, sustainable, and more affordable than other forms of transport. However, this pilot project sets us apart and we’re really proud to be leading the way on vehicle transformation.”

David Jenkins, Interim Managing Director from Newport Transport, said: “Flix, as a global leader in travel tech, is the brand with passion and ambition to bring this vision to life, and we are delighted to partner on such a momentous pilot project.

“Newport Transport has been leading the way in bringing electric vehicles to our network of local bus services in South East Wales and into England and bringing this electric vehicle to the intercity coach market is the next big step.”

The electric vehicle has a battery rating of 282kWh, and will be charged at a Transport UK London Bus (formerly known as Abellio) depot in Battersea, London and Newport Transport’s headquarters in South Wales.

Jon Eardley, Managing Director of Transport UK London Bus, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting FlixBus in this project to bring electric vehicles to the long-distance coach market, being charged using our ultra-fast state-of-the-art chargers.”

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Haru said:

guess they’ll be charging at Abeillio if needed, makes sense to use their chargers when they are not required during the day.

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The electric vehicle has a battery rating of 282kWh, and will be charged at a Transport UK London Bus (formerly known as Abellio) depot in Battersea, London and Newport Transport’s headquarters in South Wales.

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Haru said:

Then it makes me question why NX is going for hydrogen, a lot of their routes can be electric where the infrastructure needed are already there.

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Eyersey468 said:

Charging at Victoria isn't feasible for 2 reasons, partly there isn't the space for everything to charge there and the time it takes to fully charge as well

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